3 ms·

I do not think that the example is good. "Wider" and "wieder" have different meanings, even if they are probably derived from the same word. I do not know if t

I do not think that the example is good. "Wider" and "wieder" have different meanings, even if they are probably derived from the same word. I do not know if this is true in all the German dialects, but at least some pronounce "wider" with short "i" and "wieder with long "i", so they are easy to distinguish when heard (like the difference in English between "fill" and "feel"). English and German appear to have had a similar semantic evolution for this pair of words, because "wider" means "against", while "wieder" means "again", so in both cases a single word has evolved to cover these two different meanings and the variants have become differentiated in pronunciation too.

piojojo 2y ago
I'm a native German speaker and i don't know of a dialect in Germany that would pronounce "Widerstand" with a short "i". Would you mind sharing which dialect you think of? "ie" is always long. For "i" it depends on the splitting of the word, i think. I don't know if this is a concept in other languages too. I think the rule is that if the "i" is at a split, then it is long, but i'm not sure and there are always exceptions to every rule in German. Consider "Schnit|zel", "Lis|te" (short) vs "Bi|bel", "Wi|der|stand" (long).
- adrian_b 2y ago
  I have worked for some time in Germany and this is how some coworkers pronounced it, but I do not know where were they from. From what you say I assume that the literary pronunciation is also with long "i", which is good to know. Perhaps they were influenced by the different spelling, because I have seen this phenomenon in other countries, where despite a mostly phonetic writing some words were spelled differently than pronounced, for etymological or other reasons, and then the pronunciation of those words by many people has shifted, matching the spelling and not the traditional pronunciation.

piojojo 2y ago

I'm a native German speaker and i don't know of a dialect in Germany that would pronounce "Widerstand" with a short "i". Would you mind sharing which dialect you think of? "ie" is always long. For "i" it depends on the splitting of the word, i think. I don't know if this is a concept in other languages too. I think the rule is that if the "i" is at a split, then it is long, but i'm not sure and there are always exceptions to every rule in German. Consider "Schnit|zel", "Lis|te" (short) vs "Bi|bel", "Wi|der|stand" (long).

adrian_b 2y ago
I have worked for some time in Germany and this is how some coworkers pronounced it, but I do not know where were they from. From what you say I assume that the literary pronunciation is also with long "i", which is good to know. Perhaps they were influenced by the different spelling, because I have seen this phenomenon in other countries, where despite a mostly phonetic writing some words were spelled differently than pronounced, for etymological or other reasons, and then the pronunciation of those words by many people has shifted, matching the spelling and not the traditional pronunciation.